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Monday, January 9, 2012

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Randy Orton

Considering the story of The Viper so far in his career, it could be argued that Orton should be, by rights, next in line to the WWE throne. Numerous titles and main event spots would back that up, as would his credentials once the bell rings: effortlessly good-to-great matches under his belt with a variety of different wrestlers over the last seven to eight years. With a resume like that, it’s hard to argue against him.

You can therefore imagine everyone’s surprise that Orton has never fulfilled those high expectations, no matter the chances afforded to him. Even when WWE put him over strongly against lower positioned talents who could use the rub of a victory far more than Randy, his popularity and influence still seems to wane in contrast to Cena. For whatever reason, something keeps holding Orton back from taking the final leap towards carrying the company forward.

It’s not his talent, nor his look (which probably does him more favours than anything else). His talking abilities are somewhat limited and a little wooden, but it’s the character that lets him down the most. At his peak of fan interest, he was a villain; possessed with the ability to switch at any moment and take out the biggest superstars without a second thought or subsequent remorse. As a babyface, it’s difficult to balance such a character with being fan-friendly, so it’s easy to forgive Orton for falling a little short. Until those tweaks are made, however, the former Legend Killer will forever be in Cena’s shadow.

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CM Punk

If you’re a fan on the internet, chances are that Punk is the very first name that came into your head. That’s probably because you’re an idiot. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because the push of a new straight-shooting cult hero has shown what can happen with the right talker saying the right things at the right time. Given the chance to just go out and talk people into the buildings, few are currently better, if any at all, than CM Punk.

The problem with Punk is the hype that that has been thrust upon him (he was put in front of a thousand screaming internet fans in the Hammerstein Ballroom on his WWE debut and given a hero’s welcome, whilst Money In The Bank landed him in his home city of Chicago against Cena, which propelled him to superstardom for all of one night). The die-hard supporters of Punk, most of whom have occupied the internet since his days in ROH, have repeatedly made their voices heard, even masking many of his shortcomings in the ring. Whilst fluid and realistic he can also be prone to sloppiness, lacking the finesse and charisma that made Shawn Michaels one of the greatest workers in history. Even the Punk character, whilst striking an initial chord with disillusioned fans, comes off on the wrong side of whiny, and that makes it difficult for many to invest as they did with the last true wrestling rebel, Steve Austin.

Could Punk be the next Austin? With a personality that naturally deviates towards an unlikeable-verging-on-dickish heel persona, it’s unlikely. Someone like Punk will always split the audience, not too dissimilarly to how Cena does. The loss to Triple H at Night of Champions didn’t help his cause much either. However, of everyone who has been given a shot so far, Punk has shown the ability to take the ball and run as far as he can before the writing team reel him in. It’s unlikely that he’ll become a top-level megastar but, like Edge and Chris Jericho before him, he could keep himself on the cusp for a very long time. That’s good for business good for business; not unlike the two legendary Canadians, the wrestling business needs a CM Punk right now and no one plays the role of CM Punk better than CM Punk.